The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-04
SHERIDAN AND INGERS0LL.

gar infidelity, unredeemed by spark
of original genius, and dealing only in
the common platitudes of denial,
which are the most ancient and veneer.
able of the stale arguments against re-
ligion. He sounds no new or old ques-
tions, fails to discuss the fundamental
elements in human nature which give
rise to religious aspiration, faith and
prayer, and is apparently content to
draw the applause of the unthinking
multitude, by appeals which leave out
of sight all that marks man as moral
and spiritual being, and makes the old
Pagan doctrine, "Let us eat, drink and
be merry, for tomorrow we die, "
the chief end and aim of life. His
method of attack on Christianity is to
select the most Objectionable doctrines
which have ever been held in its name
and hold Christianity responsible for
them, forgetting, or purposely emitting
| any reference to more humane and en-
llSutouou opinions,
No one, to listen to Colonel Ingersoll,
would suppose for a moment that there
had been any progress in the Christian
church since the dark ages, so COM
pletely does he overlook the growth of
true Christianity, and so utterly does
he ignore all and every Interpretation
of religion which does not suit his pur-
pose. In this regard we count Mr.. In
gersoll as decidedly unfair, not to say
dishonest, in his attacks on the Christian
religion. He does not give the true
state of the case. He holds Christianity
responsible for the enormities of opin-
ion which men have cherished and adj
vocated in the past, without any sign
that there has been advance throughout
the ages, and without presenting any
thing that has been offered on the
other side. The protest of Universalists
and Unitarians, and the growing spirit
of liberality and humane Interpretation
which would seem to be ready for rec
ignition on every hand, Mr.. Ingersoll
passes by unnoticed, or only alludes to
it with scorn and contempt. He elects
to identify Christianity with the me-
di@val creeds, and as it suits his pur-
pose to ignore all advances of a ra-
tional Christianity, he continually fights
his platform battle on the old and worn
out lines of infidelity.
1t was only year or more ago, for
example, that Mr.. Ingersoll in New
York, devoted the major part of lee
ture to quotations from the Roman
Catholic tract of Father Furness, on
1.-THE Sight of HE'LL" and audaciously
presented that view as the Christian
idea of retribution. He did not inform
his hearers that even in the orthodox
churches, those views of material pun
ishments had long gone out of sight, and
that against the idea of the absolute
endlessness of punishment, there had
always been vigorous protest in the
Christian church; that humane, devout
and learned Christians had protested
all along the ages against it, and that
now the Universalist and other branch
es of the Christian church, repudiated
the doctrine as part of Christianity.
Mr.. Ingersoll's method of attack on
Christianity, is, therefore, liable to the
suspicion of being evolved from his
own conceptions as to what will best
suit his platform purposes. He is not
a fair or manly opponent of Christian
ity, and deals only in the arguments
which are adapted to capture those, who
like himself are Indifferent to the prog
ress that is made in the better appre-
hension and Interpretation of the Christ
ian religion.
Mr.. Ingersoll, after so long occupying
the field as an anti Christian orator, is
now being closely followed up by Gen
eral GEORGE A. SHERIDAN, an elo-
quent speaker, who has conceived it as
his particular mission to take hold of
Col. Ingersoll, and lay him out before
the public, somewhat after the Colonels
own fashion. General Sheridan lee
tured in this city on a recent Sunday
evening, and was quite successful in
not only attracting large concourse of
people to listen to his lecture, but also
in interesting them in very vigor-
Gus presentation Of Mr.. Ingersoll's
methods, and defense of Christianity
from the standpoint of believer in God
and immortality. Mr.. Ingersoll, 1.-THE
lecturer remarked, discusses all ques-
lions save one with candor, ability and
fairness, but when he approaches the
subject of religion the mantle of his
genial personality drops from his shout
ders, his judgment is warped, and he
becomes at once the loudest of boosters
and the most unfair of disputants. No
man has ever assailed the Christian re-
ligiOn with more eloquence, less skill,
worse logic, so much conceit, and so
little real learning. Sneers, jests, bold
mistatements and reckless assertion are
the weapons he uses. Profoundly ig-
norant of the subject he attempts to
discuss, he unwisely presumes upon the
denser ignorance of those who listen to |